Here's
the latest children's titles, including two big theatrical
releases...

Ice
Age: The Great Eggscape
(2016) runs less that a half-hour and does involve an elusive egg
among other things, but it does involve (the world's first?) egg-hunt
and some other amusing moments in what is the first release since the
last feature film underperformed. However, it is a likable franchise
and I'm glad Fox is not just giving up on it. Still, this should be
much longer and this release should offer much more. Passable at
best, fans will need more if they're going to support these
characters in the long term.

Extras
include a stickers-sheet inside the DVD case and Digital HD
UltraViolet Copy for PC, PC portable and other cyber iTunes capable
devices, while the DVD adds featurettes Ice
Age - The Story So Far,
a Making Of featurette, 6 Scrat shorts and Lost Footage.

The
Jetsons & WWE: Robo-WrestleMania
(2017) continues the mix of children's animated shows with the now
monopolistic commercial wrestling juggernaut (versus the smaller,
tougher, non Olympic/College types) that mixes about as well for me
as oil and water if that. This time, the fighting is by robots, but
making future WWE fans out of very, very young viewers is the goal.

Needless
to say, I don't see it as a good thing all the way and gives us a
plot where George Jetson 'unfreezes' one of their 'Big Show' bits a
century later. In the original Hanna Barbera (or even Warner) days,
wrestling is the kind of thing they would spoof and have ironic
distance from. This feels too much like a 81 minutes WWE
advertisement. Maybe fans of both will be amused, but this fell flat
with predictability and offering nothing special.

Extras
include three classic Jetsons episodes (including the introduction of
Astro and Rosie) and three new, short Making Of featurettes in
Welcome
To Orbit City,
The
Dangers Of Button-Pushing
and The
Jetsons: My Favorite Memories Of The Future.

Moana
(2016) is the tale of the title character (voiced by Auli'i Cravalho)
trying to save her island people from an awful future. Part of the
problem has been the shape-shifting Maui (voice by Dwayne 'The Rock'
Johnson, in speaking of the WWE) who is a demi-God (think a less
dangerous Diablero) who lands up joining her in her quest, but will
he be friend or enemy ultimately?

This
is a non-Pixar Disney animated feature that has its moments, but is
hardly their best. Johnson is actually tolerable here (and not just
because we don't have to see him) as the script has fun with him, the
fantasy set-up and the usual casual humor. Unfortunately, it does
not stay with one save that it has its exotic trappings. The music
is not bad, but none of those songs stayed with me either, despite
the talent involved there as is all over this blockbuster project.
Here we get the Blu-ray 3D version with Blu-ray 2D & DVD, so it
is a all-out release (dubbed 'Ultimate Collector’s Edition'). For
fans and the curious, you could do worse.

Extras
include Digital HD UltraViolet Copy for PC, PC portable and other
cyber iTunes capable devices, while the Blu-ray adds the Short
Film: "Inner
Workings",
Maui Mini Movie: "Gone
Fishing",
Deleted Song: "Warrior
Face",
Voice
Of The Islands
featurette on how island culture inspired the makers of this film,
Things
You Didn't Know About
has the stars answering brief questions quickly, Island Fashion on
the CGI costumes, The Elements Of looks at the film's visual effects,
in four featurettes, They
Know the Way: Making the Music of MOANA:
Learn how Opetaia Foa'I, Mark Mancina and Lin-Manuel Miranda's
involvement with the movie changed their lives, Music Video "How
Far I'll Go"
by Alessia Cara, Deleted Scenes, Fishing for Easter Eggsand a
feature-length Audio Commentary track by the makers.

Paw
Patrol: Pups Save The Bunnies
is the latest Nickelodeon compilation DVD of the hit TV series also
aimed at Easter, but without saying so directly. The seven shows
here run 94 minutes and the show continues to have its charms and
entertainment value, but this too is still a little too basic a
release. Still, fans will be happy with it and it is just fine.

There
are no extras.

Sing
(2016) is the big, pleasant surprise here, not that it is totally
original or somehow groundbreaking or innovative, but through its
heart and soul, as well as advanced grasp of music. A koala bear
named Buster Moon (voiced by Matthew McConaughey) wants to give his
beloved-but-floundering theater a boost. It is a place tied to his
family, late father and dreams, so he decides on a talent contest.
Many potential singing and even dancing talents show up, more than he
expects, but it turns out his secretary printed the awards money at
too high an amount! What will they do?

Sending
up mostly awful TV talent shows of the moment, it is not imitating
one of them or darkly spoofing them (like the live-action film
American Dreamz), but establishes a deep world of music, song
and singing starting with a Beatles cover and offering dozens of
classics (including licensing actual hit recordings often) and does
so cleverly, at great expense and with exceptional taste. It makes
this additionally involving and fun.

I
like the animation style and the voice actors are an additional plus
including Reese Witherspoon, Scarlett Johansson, Seth MacFarlane,
Taron Eggerton, John C. Reilly, Tori Kelly, Jennifer Hudson, Jennifer
Saunders, Jay Pharoah, Nick Offerman. Leslie Jones. Rhea Perlman and
Laraine Newman. That is one of the best, as well as most effective,.
Voice actors casts in years. If there was any doubt about it before,
Illumination has more than caught up with Sony, DreamWorks and
Disney/Pixar in the world of computer animated feature films.

Extras
include Digital HD UltraViolet Copy for PC, PC portable and other
cyber iTunes capable devices, while the Blu-ray adds featurettes The
Making of Sing,
Finding
the Rhythm: Editing Sing,
Character Profiles, plus "Don't
You Worry 'Bout a Thing"
Music Video, Making a Music Video with Tori Kelly, "Faith"
Music Video, "Faith"
Lyric Video, "Set
It All Free"
Lyric Video, Sing & Dance! - "Faith",
The Sing Network, The Best of Gunter, "Gunter
Babysits"
Mini-Movie, "Love
At First Sight"
Mini-Movie, "Eddie's
Life Coach"
Mini Movie and even The Making of the Mini-Movies, though they are
more like shorts to me.

The
2160p HECV/H.265, HDR (10; Ultra HD Premium)-enhanced 1.85 X 1 Ultra
High Definition image on Sing
is not that much different from the regular 1080p Blu-ray with the
same 1.85 X 1 framing, but it is just slightly better in stability
and color range, especially in a few key shots.

The
1080p 2.35 X 1 MVC-encoded 3-D - Full Resolution digital High
Definition image on Moana
has more differences from its 2D 1080p Blu-ray, but the film needs
the help and it is much more interesting this way, though the 2D
looks good. It just cuts off part of the realized fantasy world that
the film offers, leaving its anamorphically
enhanced 1.85 X 1 image DVD version struggling to offer the animation
at its best. The remaining three DVDs are all presented in
anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image framing and tie Moana
for third/last place in picture performance.

Moana
and Sing
were both 12-track/11.1 theatrical sound releases, but Disney has
decided to offer Moana
in a DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 7.1 lossless mixdown that still
delivers, but is not always great all the time. The music sounds
good and it shines during all the fantasy/action sequences. Sing
is here in Dolby Atmos 11.1 and can sound better, but limits kick in
when the several classic hit songs added to the soundtrack show their
sonic limitations (too many apparently not available in 5.1 mixes, et
al), though it has some edge on Moana
in its better sequences. It is one of the only films to date that
had all three 11.1 sound logos in its end credits: Dolby Atmos, Auro
11.1 and DTS: X. Both offer some fine demo material too, but neither
are soundtracks that stuck with me either.

All
four DVDs offer lossy Dolby Digital 5.1 sound, tying for last place
sonically, Moana
suffering from quite the mixdown as a result.